A robot teaching operation apparatus that is connected to a control device for an industrial robot and that enables a user to carry out various kinds of operation in a hand-held manner has been known (Patent Literature 1).
The robot teaching operation apparatus of Patent Literature 1 is constituted by a personal digital assistant (PDA), which is a general-purpose mobile data terminal, and an emergency stop command device provided with an emergency stop switch and a dead-man switch. The PDA and the emergency stop command device are configured to be attachable to and detachable from each other by a connecter.
According to the robot teaching operation apparatus of Patent Literature 1, the PDA, when detached from the emergency stop command device, can be carried around by a user and thus has improved portability. Furthermore, by using a general-purpose product as the PDA, it is possible to reduce the production cost for the robot teaching operation apparatus itself as compared to using a dedicated device.